In brief: Sub, cruiser back in port after collision

NORFOLK, Va. – The Navy submarine and the Aegis cruiser that collided off the East Coast are both back in port and officials are investigating what went wrong, the Pentagon said late Sunday.

Lt. Commander Brian Badura of the U.S. Fleet Forces Command said in a news release that the submarine USS Montpelier arrived at Naval Submarine Base Kings Bay in southern Georgia. The USS San Jacinto arrived at Naval Station Mayport in Jacksonville, Fla.

The vessels collided at about 3:30 p.m. Saturday during routine training operations and no one was injured. The news release said now that they are back in port, crews can further determine the extent of the damage. Navy officials said the collision was under investigation, but declined to offer more specifics including where it happened.

Cambodia’s former king dies at 89

PHNOM PENH, Cambodia – Norodom Sihanouk, the revered former king who was a towering figure in Cambodian politics through a half-century of war, genocide and upheaval, died Monday. He was 89.

Sihanouk abdicated the throne in 2004, citing his poor health. He had been getting medical treatment in China since January and had suffered a variety of illnesses, including colon cancer, diabetes and hypertension.

Prince Sisowath Thomico, a royal family member who also was Sihanouk’s assistant, said the former king suffered a heart attack at a Beijing hospital.

“His death was a great loss to Cambodia,” Thomico said, adding that Sihanouk had dedicated his life “for the sake of his entire nation, country and for the Cambodian people.”

Cambodian government spokesman Khieu Kanharith said an official funeral will be held once the former king’s body is repatriated.

Sihanouk saw Cambodia transform from colony to kingdom, U.S.-backed regime to Khmer Rouge killing field and foreign-occupied land to guerrilla war zone – and finally to a fragile experiment with democracy.

Muslims arrive to sign Philippine pact

MANILA, Philippines – Worn down by decades of fighting and failed peace agreements, about 200 Muslim rebels led by their elusive chief arrived in the Philippine capital for the signing of a preliminary peace pact today aimed at ending one of Asia’s longest-running insurgencies.

The agreement is the first major tentative step toward a final settlement that grants minority Muslims in the southern Philippines broad autonomy in exchange for ending the violence that has killed tens of thousands of people and crippled development.

A product of 15 years of negotiations facilitated by neighboring Malaysia, which wants stability on its doorstep, the agreement sets in motion a roadmap to a final document that the Moro Islamic Liberation Front and Philippine President Benigno Aquino III’s government plan to clinch before his six-year terms ends in 2016.

Published: Oct. 15, 2012, midnight

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